A successful news and information-based website serving business and commerce across the West Midlands region is being taken forward as a commercial venture.
Biztv – an Advantage West Midlands-funded project which has worked with more than 120 businesses in Birmingham and the West Midlands – has been run from its Aston University base for five years.
Now the man who has been at the helm of the project – Biztv editor Joe McConnell – is taking the brand forward in a private capacity.
Mr McConnell said the move was a “natural progression” for Biztv if it was to continue both to grow and to offer a unique service to large and small businesses.
Through audio and video files which can either be streamed or downloaded, Biztv offers “production and profile” to businesses and organisations keen to communicate with their key audiences.
A mixture of private and public sector businesses, as well as member organisations such as the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Birmingham Forward, regularly use Biztv as a vital communications channel.
In March 08-March 09, there were 8,500 visitors tobiz-tv.net, 6,800 absolute unique visitors and 20,000 page views. Top visiting countries outside the UK include France (600) and USA (500). Others include Germany, Poland, Ireland and the Ukraine.
Mr McConnell said:"Businesses need to communicate as effectively as they possibly can with partners and customers and using audio files to ‘speak’ to their audiences has become more accessible and popular.
“At Biztv we hope to help companies and organisations to produce the right messages and then profile these online at biz-tv.net .
“Advantage West Midlands and Aston University have been excellent partners to work with, and the intention has always been that – when the funding stream came to an end – it would be a viable, sustainable project. As someone who has been involved at every stage of the programme, I have the support of those I have worked with to ensure Biztv has a commercially sustainable future too.”
Mr McConnell said the service was unique in that not only will it record interviews with business figures, it will also make these available for their company websites, and – through the Biztv website – offer a platform and profile alongside other business news and views.
Dr Richard Hutchins, Corporate Director for Economic Development at Advantage West Midlands, said: “Biztv has become a part of the business news network across the West Midlands region and has carried over 100 positive stories about innovation and entrepreneurship in our companies and individuals.
“It is very satisfying to see an initiative started by Advantage West Midlands delivering its targets and moving into the private sector. I wish it every success."
Jerry Blackett, Chief Executive of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, said the Biztv service had established itself as an important tool for the business community.
He said: “We at the Chamber know from first-hand experience that it works. We are able to literally speak to our target audience as well as the broader business community through Biztv.
“We know how important it is to exploit the full range of channels available to us to deliver news, views and information. In these difficult economic times it is even more important we communicate as professionally as we can.”
Biztv formed part of the Business and Learning Connections (BLC) project, funded by Advantage West Midlands project and managed by Aston Media, producing video learning materials.
In the past 12 months, there have been over 250 users from 77 countries, primarily HE and FE Institutions and Sixth Forms, 35,200 page views, 6,100 video clips viewed on site and 2,500 clips downloaded usually to HE/FE institution virtual learning environments.